AmateurRadio.com

Does this mean I am relieved of my ‘blogging duties? :O) Of course not.

I won’t be broadcasting the 530 mile drive from the middle of nowhere, IA. My eyes are already bleeding watching them drive. I better not watch.. I don’t need to add 100 of their miles to my tiredness tomorrow.

If I’m lucky and score an APRS tracker there (save one for me Argent!) you *might* see me drive back on aprs.fi.. but that’s only because I can’t help myself, I’m an engineer. Sorry.. I really am… The kids think APRS is cool and when I get home I can unpack that 10 year old Dallas 1-wire WX station and an old 2m rig and put a WX node up. That’s a very good project for a 9 & 10 year old, don’tcha think?

I won’t be going to the D*Star thing and asking why they are crazy enough to shell out $750 for a radio that has an inferior modem in it! Even compared to what I was running in 1989 on packet and satellite and a CODEC that sounds 3x worse than a landline or even the GSM codec. I’d not be popular with my “1985 called (again) and they (still) want their modem back!” at that meeting!

Time for us to get a real MBPS modem going at UHF+ and not look like a bunch of dweebs running 4800 bps… I’m just saying. I do have to be careful though as apparently our club might be getting D*Star from ICOM in their “free repeater” deal.. so I may be eating my words and talked into buying something for it.. I hope not… but maybe..I often fall to peer pressure.

I’d like to meet the astronaut. That would be the second because of ham radio (we met one at CSVHFs last year).

Mostly though I’m going for the ambiance. (Masochistic streak in me, especially when it comes to ham radio!) I’ll try to take pictures of the weirdest of stuff and ‘blog that way. God I don’t want to complain about the WX, the smell there.. the fact that the roof is falling in at Salem Mall, etc.. If I do kick my rear end, will ya?

Fred W0FMS

They should have brought an 11 meter rig. Then they would know what was going on up ahead.

Posted from the Fairfield Inn North Dayton:

Damn that is a long drive from Iowa. I mean you might think it’s a long way to the drug store from home, but that’s peanuts to the Iowa to Dayton trip. And yet, there is Alabama and California plates in the lot. They definitely are more manly than I am. I’m so tired I’m hallucinating. I’ll have a couple of drinks with dinner and hallucinate some more.

I am disappointed in the parking lot. Not enough weird looking antennas. I think you guys ARE getting old. Where is the bizarro HF stuff or the VHF rovers? At least after owning my current car for 6 years I finally put on an NMO Mount on the trunk lip and listened to almost nothing on the way on 146.52 until we were East of Indy. Plenty of inane chatter in Dayton proper, though.

Anyway.. the highlight is that the Jetta TDI did well over 50 MPG on this trip… probably a record. I think it did that by sucking the life out of me as I was driving.

Anyway.. will take some pictures and do a proper post when I have more than drivel.

Speaking of “manly” — I think I’m going to wear my Coral (really pink) Down East Microwave shirt tomorrow. If you can’t find me wearing that shirt you are blind. Nothing says that you feel confident in your manliness than wearing a pink DEMI shirt, that is for sure… 73.. hope to see some of you tomorrow.

Fred W0FMS

Could,nt make it this year,hope to next